A passion turned into a project…and then this blog.

bake

So perhaps the most challenging part of the cuttlefish ink challenge was to come up with a dessert. Not only does cuttlefish ink seem really out of place in a dessert, but also I avoid making desserts at all costs! I am a pretty terrible baker, I don’t like to sweet things, I am justRead more

I find that lemongrass is kind of an odd thing. For being a stalk of grass I find it really strange that it carries such a citrus scent and flavor. Lemongrass is used as an herb in Asian cuisine (which is how the next recipe uses it) but also as a medicinal herb in IndiaRead more

Well, as luck would have it now that our unseasonably warm weather has left us the next cookbook on my shelf is a grilling cookbook. Also as luck would have it, after getting home late for work I found the propane of my grill was empty. (Actually I think that last one was actually luckRead more

Mushrooms. They are an ingredient that I have never really liked. Well I like sauces and such made with mushrooms, but actually eating a mushroom is not my thing. So when I opened the next cookbook in line, I was surprised I had actually tagged a recipe which featured mushrooms. But in the quest toRead more

Duck and duck fat seem to be the new “hot” thing right now. And when I say hot I mean literally hot, remember this post when I burned myself with scorching hot duck fat?! I wanted to make more use of the duck fat I have so I decided cook potatoes in duck fat.

I am no fan of baking. But in my quest to continue to learn and improve my skill I make sure to include baking recipes. Why don’t I enjoy baking? If I had to guess it’s because I really don’t like sweet foods, so I don’t find joy in making sweet foods. I was reallyRead more

A few months ago my friend Pam and I took a cooking class at The Chef Next Door in Walkerville. One of the dishes featured was duck confit. For those of you who were like me about 6 months ago and don’t know what confit means meat cooked in it’s own rendered fat. It soundsRead more

The next recipe tagged will the be last recipe I will be making from this cookbook. I have gone through the entire book and have not found another recipe that peaks my interest. It is a beautiful book, very large with lots of great photos. But I have really had a hard time finding recipesRead more

I am pretty particular about staying in order with my cookbooks and not skipping or make an recipe out of order. But the next recipe in the next cookbook in line has required I skip ahead. Not only did I have order some ingredients online but also the recipe takes several weeks to cure. So moreRead more

We had a busy fun exhausting weekend. So when you notice there aren’t too many “in progress” photos of this recipe, it’s because while cooking my friend Tash asked me if I was going to take any pictures…I was half way done with the cooking at that point…oops. So I’ve tried to make up forRead more

So I wouldn’t typically consider bread making to be easy. Well to be more precise it’s not technically difficult to make bread and it doesn’t take a lot of ingredients. But bread making does take time which is probably the biggest reason I don’t make it more often. This particular weekend Matt and I decidedRead more

Oh baking. Not my thing but you know…part of the reason for my cookbook project is to cook new things and improve upon my cooking. So I guess that includes baking. And right off the heels of my last breakfast recipe, I whipped up another breakfast recipe. This time from a Gordon Ramsey cookbook!

Did I really tag a recipe for okra was what I was thinking when I opened the next cookbook in line. Even though I have never cooked with (or probably ate) okra I couldn’t imagine it being good. But my friend Al loves okra so perhaps about 6 months ago when I last used thisRead more

Matt and I are approaching our 2 year anniversary. We had a very romantic wedding in Las Vegas, just the two of us. When we came home we had a big celebration at our house. To keep it “simple” we hired a couple of people to cook hotdogs and hamburgers on demand and had a “bar”Read more

This year for Easter we stuck around home instead of traveling. We got invited to our friends Brad and Jo’s house for a fish fry/bonfire on Saturday. The next cookbook in line was the one and only baking cookbook I own…not even sure why I own it? I am not a dessert person so itRead more